Race day and competition fuelling

Nothing new on race day. That is the first and most important rule, and it is broken constantly.

The days before

Carbohydrate loading, where the event is long enough to warrant it — generally over ninety minutes of sustained effort.

Modern protocols are simpler than the depletion-and-loading regimes of the past. High carbohydrate intake for one to three days before, in the region of eight to twelve grams per kilogram per day, alongside reduced training.

Plant-based diets tend to be carbohydrate-rich, which makes this straightforward.

The fibre adjustment, which is the main plant-based consideration.

Reduce fibre substantially for twenty-four to forty-eight hours before. White bread, white rice, refined pasta, peeled potatoes, fruit juice rather than whole fruit, and no legumes.

This feels wrong after months of eating well and it is correct. A gut full of fermenting fibre at the start line is a problem, and gastrointestinal distress is among the most common reasons for a bad race.

Hydration, normal drinking with attention to sodium, not excessive loading.

Familiar food. Not the time to try a restaurant in an unfamiliar city if you can avoid it. Travelling with your own food is common practice among experienced athletes for good reason.

The morning

Timing. Generally two to four hours before, depending on how you tolerate food.

What. Carbohydrate, low fibre, low fat, moderate protein, familiar.

White toast with jam and honey. White rice. A banana. A sports drink. Oats if you tolerate them, made with water rather than a high-fibre milk.

Somewhere in the region of one to four grams of carbohydrate per kilogram, depending on the time available and personal tolerance.

What not. Anything new. Anything high in fibre. Anything very fatty. Large volumes of protein. Excessive caffeine if you are not used to it.

Caffeine, if you use it, at your usual practised dose and timing.

During

Standard sports nutrition guidance applies and most sports nutrition products are already plant-based.

Under an hour: generally nothing needed beyond fluid.

One to two and a half hours: around thirty to sixty grams of carbohydrate per hour.

Over two and a half hours: up to around ninety grams per hour, using a mixture of glucose and fructose, which use different transporters and allow higher total absorption.

Most modern sports products are formulated with this ratio.

The gut needs training for this. Consuming ninety grams an hour is not something the gut does without practice, and attempting it untrained produces distress.

Practise the exact fuelling plan in training, repeatedly, at race intensity.

Fluid and sodium according to your measured sweat rate and the conditions.

Plant-based options: gels, drinks, chews, dried fruit, dates, bananas, rice cakes, boiled potatoes with salt. Many athletes prefer real food for longer events.

Check labels on sports products for whey and honey, which appear in some.

After

Carbohydrate and protein, fluid and sodium.

Where another event follows soon, aggressive carbohydrate replacement. Where it does not, the daily total matters more than the immediate window.

Appetite is frequently absent after a hard effort. Liquid calories work when solid food does not.

The multi-day event

Stage races, tournaments and multi-day competitions compress everything.

The priority becomes glycogen replacement between days, which means substantial carbohydrate intake in the hours after each effort, continued through the evening.

Fibre stays low throughout, which is a departure from normal eating and is appropriate for the duration.

Protein maintained to support repair.

And practical measures: bringing familiar food, having a plan for each day, and eating on a schedule rather than by appetite, since appetite is suppressed.

The specific plant-based considerations, summarised

Fibre reduction around competition, which matters more given a higher baseline.

Iron status checked well in advance, since correcting deficiency takes months.

Sodium, where baseline intake may be lower on a whole-food diet.

Product checking for animal-derived ingredients in sports nutrition.

Travel planning, since finding suitable food in an unfamiliar place at six in the morning is harder than it sounds.

Book accommodation with a kitchen where possible, or travel with breakfast.

The rule again

Nothing new on race day.

Every element — the breakfast, the timing, the products, the caffeine, the amount — should have been practised in training under similar conditions.

The athletes who have trouble are almost always the ones who tried something because it was in the race pack.

General information rather than individual advice. Athletes should work with a sports dietitian to develop and practise an individual fuelling plan.